Our rabbis teach us that when one intends to do a mitzvah, a commandment or good deed, he should do it without delay.  They have a beautiful saying that makes this point, “Mitzvah haba liyadcha al tachmitsena.” A mitzvah that comes to your hand, don’t make it “chametzdik.”

We know that to bake matzah for Pesach you leave it in the oven for up to 18 minutes. If you delay and leave it in longer than 18 minutes, it ferments and becomes chametz and is unfit for Passover consumption.

Our rabbis similarly tell us that although you have the best intentions to do a mitzvah, don’t delay, for you may likely end up not doing it altogether.

Our rabbis of the Talmud did not take courses in psychology at the university. They were nonetheless masters at understanding the human mind and human nature. They cautioned us to be aware that the road to hell is often paved with good intentions.

Our sages allude to the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, as the culprit in discouraging and dissuading us from performing a mitzvah. The tactic often employed by the yetzer hara is to convince people not to act hastily, but rather to take their time and think it over. He’ll seldom give them an emphatic and outright no for an answer. He will not say: Don’t do the mitzvah. Instead he’ll use subtlety. He’ll say: What’s the rush? Why can’t it wait for a more opportune time like tomorrow or the next day?

With this strategy in play, he will eventually get them to postpone the mitzvah for a tomorrow that never comes.

Our rabbi at the yeshiva, Rabbi Starr, of blessed memory, once explained to us a law pertaining to Tisha B’av. He told us that just as it is a mitzvah to fast on Tisha B’Av, it is a mitzvah to eat the meal before in preparation for the fast. He would tell his students: “You can tell from my physical hefty build that I have no problem eating. In fact I enjoy it.

However, when it comes to Erev Tisha B’Av when it’s a mitzvah to eat, I find that I have no appetite. This doesn’t happen to me the rest of the year. I know, therefore, that it’s the yetzer hara talking to me and saying, ‘You are not hungry, so don’t force yourself to eat.’ I know he’s trying to discourage me davka, precisely because it’s a mitzvah.  That’s the way the yetzer hara works.”

A pious man was having difficulty getting out of bed and getting dressed to go to shul on a bitter, cold, wintery morning. Thoughts coursing through his mind were: I’m tired, it’s so early in the morning and it’s bitter cold outside, so I’ll miss the shul minyan this time.

Then he quickly came up with this rebuttal. You, yetzer hara, were not too tired or lazy to get up this early in the morning despite the bitter cold weather to dissuade me from going to the minyan. I, therefore, will not listen to your arguments and will hurriedly get dressed and go to shul.

As a rabbi, I’ve asked people who never come to shul why they don’t attend services. Stop being Seventh Day Absentists. You are only hurting yourself, your family, your shul and klal Yisrael, Jewry in general.

Often I get the answer, “Rabbi when I retire from work I promise you I’ll start coming.” It’s sad that there are those who don’t think of the synagogue as an institution for young and old alike, a place where we can spiritually grow, revitalize, and reJewvenate. It’s sad and degrading to think of it only as an old age home to frequent upon retirement. Moreover, many who postpone and delay this important, sacred mitzvah by listening to the yetzer hara may deny themselves the duty, joy, love, and passion of synagogue attendance and prayer altogether.

When it comes to the great mitzvah of tzedakah or charity, again the yetzer hara enters the scene and tries to dissuade you.

You can’t give this year to the synagogue or the Federation because it’s a bad year with a terrible economic downturn. You’ll give next year. Does it really mean this person is impoverished and can’t afford to help our people, the synagogue, Israel, Jewish education and other worthy causes? This person’s bank account would not indicate that. He gives where he chooses to give. He can give for a car, for two or three trips, for a beautiful new home, for pleasures and luxuries. It is the yetzer hara talking to him and persuading him not to do mitzvot.

Let us learn that it is far better to listen to the yetzer hatov, our good inclination, and have the credit of doing mitzvot. Let us become a master rather than a slave to the yetzer hara. We will then merit a rich and abundant harvest of blessings from the Almighty upon ourselves and our loved ones throughout the year.